Stanza 2

303 thoughts on “Stanza 2”

I bet the Fenn family stopped many places in the Rockies on their way to Yellowstone and most of them were probably north of Santa Fe………..Begin it where the family stopped to rest…….no, no too easy. Begin it were warm waters halt.

I agree with you. Also, many rich people who were building new houses – shopped in Santa Fe – for art to hang in their new abode…..thus meeting Forrest. I’m even thinking it goes deeper than that…..friendships made way back over the years.

“I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
? Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

If the Brown in HOB is a person, then he must be a friend/customer of FF.
Then the following questions come up : would he not know the poem talks about himself/herself?
Most likely (s)he would if …. still alive? How about his/her children?
There are many questions and loose ends i think with the above assumption.

What if the Brown is not a person but a thing, maybe something bronze? Then maybe the owner was a friend/customer of FF. If this is the case, would the owner not know? This brings us back to the same question above? Is the owner still alive?

You do know that FF said – two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.

Children? Let them find it……….they have to do the same thing you do…….solve the puzzle. They have no advantage. If they are really interested in putting in the time….which I doubt, they could find it just like you – but, having lots of money is a big deterrent.

inthechaseto-
You are right.I had forgotten about that comment from FF.

assumption 1:
Brown is a person and he owned a big property. He dies and his property is sold, would HOB still true?

assumption 2:
Brown is a thing. Unless it is a massive and non-movable object. HOB might be true for a long time, even if the owner is dead and it has a current owner.
If it is a small item, it can change hands unless it is in a museum.

These questions are answered by starting a timeline. I do believe FF was rushed to hide the TC. What could that reason be? The answer is in the timeline. There is going to be alot remember here and that will help you.

I’m now in the chase, to find that gold.
Bringing my bear spray, because I’m old.
This spring I’ll fly and drive to walk outside,
Taking in the beauty, with eyes open wide.
Poems and maps I have a plenty,
If I get lucky, I’ll end up with some money.
Help others as much as I can,
And try to be a humble man.
200V

I remember one of my first post on what where warm waters halt meant. I told the goofy guy there was more than 9. It still holds true today. I have been to this spot 3 times now. Warm water is always changing when needed. Think about that one until it halts. Anyway, in place I have never been before, I was able see all the key parts of the poem. In the wood is where I stopped, I will have to wait until December now.

I am not sure if anyone , has considered Warren Granger Brown (Freckles) I only really find 3 famous wyoming Browns by name and he is certainly one of them – and can you believe like Gaspard he has been all over China and India as well, He rode the infamous Tornado twice. what a guy he was! they dont make em like him anymore

Astree, Besides being a color, tan is the abbreviation for “tangent”.
The formula to calculate the length of a shadow cast by an object is
L = h / tan (a)
Where L is the shadow’s length, h is the height of the object, and a is angle of the sun above the horizon. Tan is the tangent of that angle.
“Look quickly down your quest to cease.”

Jack:
Astree, Besides being a color, tan is the abbreviation for “tangent”.
The formula to calculate the length of a shadow cast by an object is
L = h / tan (a)
Where L is the shadow’s length, h is the height of the object, and a is angle of the sun above the horizon. Tan is the tangent of that angle.
“Look quickly down your quest to cease.”

VGBOSS
on June 4, 2013 at 8:11 pm said:
That’s because there are clues all over the World Wide Web…(W)here (W)arm (W)aters Halt ( . ) www.

Is this what you think VG was saying?

Begin it where warm waters halt: www. (research on the web)
And take it in the canyon down,: (your journey of doing research)
Not far, but too far to walk.: (anywhere in the US to your search site)
Put in below the home of Brown.: (your boots on the ground search starts here)

Yes that is what he meant, because I had email conversations about that as it was a way I was searching. If you look at Forrest’s blogs he is always saying to Google this or that. It could be his reference to he’s ok with computers now. Also, he’s said that he worked on this for 15 years which is about the time that the Internet started. Interestingly there’s a site called Theblaze.com I think it’s owned by Glenn Beck and Forrest talks about being a supporter of that Republican guy who almost got bit by the alligator. I never came up with anything going in that route though.

I don’t remember that comment about the Republican guy who almost got bit by the alligator. I remember alligator comments, but I guess I missed that one. I know Glenn Beck was an alcoholic and his mom committed suicide. Do you think it could have anything to do with that?

I don’t know anything about Glenn Beck..that’s interesting. I know I’ve heard the story about his alligator at his gallery a few times…might be in his new book too. I do remember one of the PBS interviews it was talked about.

I don’t think there are alligators anywhere out West. I think they are only in Florida. Am I wrong? He said a poem at the Moby event that had to do with an alligator as he looked out on the way up there….which would have been past the Rio Grande. Also, he used to own the two alligators.

Yes, I found the alligator farm too. I was surprised that Colorado had an alligator farm. I zoomed in on all of it from google earth but couldn’t make a connection! Most of the Southern states have alligators. The entire Gulf coast. Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina too

It was a fund raiser for Gary Carruthers, I believe. Yes alligators can live here if they are given shelter in the winter.
I found the alligator farm about a year and half ago. Couldnt make it fit anything though.

Forrest isnt anti internet. He is against the way people have used it though. Its a wonderful source of knowledge that could be used to do amazing things.

There isnt any right or wrong answers until the chest is found. I try not to limit myself by not keeping an open mind. Im thinking alot of people will be suprised when its all said and done.

Yes, I think that is exactly what VG was saying. But I don’t know if he was saying start the actual treck on the WWW and then end up somewhere else. He was looking in NM.

I know this is confusing. The poem is direct and plain and simple in it’s directions to the TC. But, there are layers. The start at WWWH means 2 things – start the treck there AND start on the WWW there. Lots of work to be done before you hit the trail.

I feel that every single thing one needs to know – can be found on the WWW. to include the coordinates. It’s my hope that just having the coordinates will be enough. We will see in the spring.

Coordinates: I believe that if he put coordinates in to be found, they will only get you to a general area, not the exact location. He wouldn’t allow a shortcut that allows you to find the chest without completely solving the puzzle. Also the coordinates, if they exist would be in the poem. They wouldn’t be in the book, although a hint of how to find them in the poem may be in the book.

I can tell you this for certain – there is more than one key to this chase. I found the first one, know about the second, and am working on the third.

I think everything is important in this chase – all of it. The order in which you found things – not so much, as it is most important that you evenually start in the right place. I am finding everything is related in someway.

I know it took FF a long time to put together the stamps – in particular the placement of them and the actual dates.

So I was thinking if he spent that much time on them – are they important to the final solve? We will see.

Meme:
the meek can be the road going down and heavy loads can be the water it holds in. So still could work if you believe in that sort of thing which I don’t.

Is the funny supposed to be a dig towards me cause I don’t get what’s funny about me trying to help.

Oh no, its the idea that way back then they had anything like that to power their work. Sorry if that offended you. They worked out of an old boarding school, nothing fancy back then. Didnt mean to upset you.

I wasn’t upset. I just wasn’t sure what was funny and thought it might have been cause I upset others when I was excited about my solution. Thanks for explaining Deb and I’m glad I didnt take it the wrong way and asked you as you taught me something.

This large wood and concrete ball plug was one of two used to halt the flow of water through the 42-inch-diameter power outlet works conduits, located in the base of the dam. The balls facilitated the repair and maintenance of downstream machinery and equipment. In order to access the submerged conduit openings on the upstream face of the dam, trash rack structures first had to be removed by divers and raised to the surface by a cableway winch. Then, assisted by divers, the ball plugs were lowered by the cableway winch into position, where water pressure forced the balls against the conduit openings, sealing off the flow of water. The construction of the ball plugs utilizing a combination of wood and concrete provided strength and also allowed easy maneuverability under water.

Two new ball plugs were obtained during the Buffalo Bill Dam modifications project (1985-1993), since the removal of the cableway winch in 1985, the installation of the new ball plugs must be accomplished using a barge mounted crane on the reservoir.

Jack:
I found this interesting. “Warm waters” in Spanish is “agua caliente” which anagrams to “tea clue again” Maybe the colors in Tea with Olga lead you to the starting point? Tea is made with warm water.

Some of the clues are place names on maps , that you could guess and get right , but some of the clues are real things that are not named on maps . So you might guess the first 2 right , and then go right on past the other clues heading to another place name on maps that has no relevance at all . Hope that helps explain . As for the chest , I could be mistaken , but I believe bronze is a brown color .

Why don’t we all try to apply this to some place that has a damn (lake) and most all damns have a canyon , and most have trout fishing in the canyon, Brown is the 52 nd word in the poem and page 52 is brown and Skippy has a trout in his teeth, so lets alt try and exhausted ALL the damns and canyon that we can.
I read that the water comes to rest in Hebgen lake,,does the 1959 earthquake relate to no place for the meek, and/or the end is near… what else fits here or other similar places, the 1st 2 places ppl went to and then when the wrong way may have been a damn and its canyon,,, any more ideas?
you may think the poem is not literal, that there is some deeper menaing, but when it comes down to it , you have to be some place….. some REAL place, to find the Chest.

I have my own spot for next year, but for dams I heard someone mentioned a dam that was run by the military that powered Los Alamos the bomb place. It’s in the town of Abiquiu, New Mexico and they said the not meek was the miltary and heavy loads was that it made electric. Someone had a story of it that they went there.

Pathfinder Dam.
The first Beauru of Reclamation Dam BR-own.
The river is the North Platte. It starts in Colorado.
The dam was finished in 1909. It is made of hand hewn blocks by people that made 30 cents a day. There are two huge structures that hold up the cable which a cart can go back and forth across the river. There is a cool campsite there: Weiss Camp ground.
The landscape is typically Wyoming except for a huge swath of black rock that one can see from across the resoivoir which also is seen on the mountains behind it. I think it is called foo base. One can see this go across three mountains in a line.
BUT what impressed me most, was that the water does not leave the dam below as most dams. If you look at this picture of me standing on the suspension bridge, you can see that the water is released high above the river.
Caught three rainbows, landed two.
Had a blast.

In my opinion I was on the correct Canyon and I took it down. It was far but not that far of a walk….for me atleast. The “walk”, down that Canyon, ofcourse would depend on the individual’s physicality/fitness/health I suppose.

But I can say this….I only took out my bottled water once from my backpack and took a very short gulp then arrived to my destination and began searching for the Blaze.

Throughout the not far but not too far walk down the Canyon I did not stop to rest. I’m not saying that I’m Mr. Fitness…I’m just saying as Forrest Fenn stated within his Poem…It’s “Not Far, But Too Far to Walk”.

DaveC3119 believe me I walked it and it was NOT FAR, but TOO FAR TO WALK for maybe others.

Also depends where you, me or others began that “walk”…Where Warm Waters Halt?

That is the kicker DaveC3119…the starting point of the actual where one begins walking down “that” CANYON.

In my opinion Forrest Fenn does not waste his time on words, within his Poem. Every single word within his Poem is important! If Forrest Fenn said NOT FAR then it’s not Far…for some searchers. If he says TOO FAR TO WALK…then it can be too far to walk for some searchers.

Depends on the searcher’s physicality, fitness, health! It was NOT FAR for me to take the Canyon down but it was TOO FAR for me to take the Canyon back up! Again we are talking about walking not riding on a mule, mountain bike or in a 4X4 truck on this Canyon 😉

I woke up in a sharing mood so i’ll give what i believe to be the starting point to finding the chest. On page 46 of the book read the description of the photo’s. “My one-room cabin in paradise, with curtains on the windows but no heat, no water and no plumbing.
Look to the next page.. . The Totem Cafe Caper, a cafe located in W. Yellowstone on Canyon St. I believe this is our “Begin it where warm waters halt” and our canyon.
I’m fairly confident this is why f stated some have got the first 2 clues correct and went right past the others. I have yet to figure out the next clue… very difficult but this gives a start along and a direction to head. Hope it helps someone.
I wish that post mark wasn’t blurred on page 46 (lol). Good luck!

Similar conclusion but different method. Firehole river is my wwwh and twenty miles is my too far to walk. He talks about riding his bike 20 miles from his cabin to the river rather than walking a mile to shower at the train station. I just went backwards to West Yellowstone from the river.

Aspen Marsh:
kym the Glacier National parks part of the U,N,E.S.C.O.and there union as a World Heritage Site The union of the parks was achieved through the effortsof Rotary Internationalmembers from Alberta and Montana on June 18 1932The name of these two parks are Waterton- Glacier InternationalPeace Park.. Just take the chest and go in Peace could mean your on the border ofMontanaand canada and yougo into the park (PEACE) PARKWith this agreement this park could very well be around in 100 to 1000 years

tomwhat:
Is everyone convinced that Warm Waters is literally water of some sort, like a river or lake or bathtub? Perhaps it is a metaphor?

That could be Tom, I wouldnt put anything out of play. What I am finding is multiple dimensions of the same solve for each clue. Some of them are historical legend based, some are present day geographical, so why would I doubt you finding something metaphorical ?

The obvious non-water interpretation relates to death or dying. Warm Water is blood, Halt means the heart stops beating. Naturally we would start our search in graveyards and cemeteries. I can’t think of anything else along the lines of “water = life” that halts except an oncology ward or hospice care.

Red Cloud was the only Native American named anything like Warm Waters that my research turned up. That might help?

Mike not to mention some photo’s taken of f have the skull as a backdrop. There’s just way too many indicators pointing to Montana to look elsewhere in my opinion. My first search was in Cody, Wy and the surrounding area. Honestly it was a split second decision and i should have never left out the front door . I’ll be headed out this month to Montana.

Mike:
All 4 of my searches this year have been in Montana (with only a brief excursion into Wyoming).I am not ready to give up on Montana.Look at Forresrt Fenn’s own site, front and center is a bison skull, the same image that is on the Montana quarter and the Montana license plate.

Anyone want to toss out a bone on their theory as to WWWH? I get the www=world wide web, what would the “H” stand for? I think there must be another way of looking at it beside looking for dams, geysers,hot springs, etc.

Thanks Josh… That’s an interesting take on it!
Plus, that analogy fits well into my recent research on my newest theory. Appreciate it!
I recently saw a clip/commercial or something somewhere about that movie and thought it looked to be pretty good. Wonder if it’s out yet…

inthechase, the thought of wwwh dealing with the atmosphere and clouds has always been in the back of my mind.
I had mention Salt Lake City in relation to wwwh to f in an email months ago and he responded with “Set your sights higher”. Makes a whole lot os sense doesn’t it ?

All 4 of my searches this year have been in Montana (with only a brief excursion into Wyoming). I am not ready to give up on Montana. Look at Forresrt Fenn’s own site, front and center is a bison skull, the same image that is on the Montana quarter and the Montana license plate.

Tomwhat the only other thing that I came up with along those lines would be our bodies wwwh when we sleep, therefore a dream state and take ‘it’ in the cayon down, our brains have canyons in them, not too far but too far to walk, of course not walk cuz we are dreaming heck we could even fly! lol but then that darn HOB comes up and it’s a stumper, what the heck is home of Brown in the Brain or our dreamstate? lol so yea, no go! 🙂

There is a little Lake ISA I think its called that is on the CD and water flows down to the Pacific and at the other end down to the Atlantic sides. its about 50 feet long, it flows to the firehole on the north side. But thats has nothing to do with halt…. Now Diamond dust does halt, in the geyser basins of ys, warm moist air comes from the paciific by way thru snake valley and into YS, check it out.

Tomwhat, for me WWWH is the earths surface. I asked myself where do warmed waters really get moving? The answer is deep underground in geo thermal activity. So relatively speaking, the warmed water “halts” at the surface.

32 degrees=wwwh
our 98.6 degree body stopping, due to dead end, cliff, checkpoint or as in awestruck but that really doesn’t come until marvel gaze 🙂

a dam =that seperates warm from cold
or where hot springs flow into cold

rain= where it flows or drops to dry creek bed, it just soaks it up so it stops
a waterfall
those are the only ones that I had and there are the Ouray Ice Caves by all the mines in Colorado and I found some in Montana

my reasoning for the Rio Grande Heawaters in Creede,Co. was because (this is not totally scientific) lol when I first googled , “what is 32 degrees north of Santa Fe,NM.” it popped up the rio Grand headwaters believe it or not. and it may not actually even be 32 degrees North cuz I am not the GPS queen or a pilot, i go east west north south and left and right! LOL
So after more research I found that the Brown’s had a summer home/ranch there below wagon wheel gap there is a nice canyon and a Brown Lake all that I’m sure would fit nicely into the scheme of things for my vaca/ search, it’s only 4 hours from Santa Fe, a nice start and there are some cool waterfalls and hiking trails there also.<< they just call me 'crazy' 🙂

kym the Glacier National parks part of the U,N,E.S.C.O.and there union as a World Heritage Site The union of the parks was achieved through the efforts of Rotary International members from Alberta and Montana on June 18 1932 The name of these two parks are Waterton- Glacier International Peace Park. . Just take the chest and go in Peace could mean your on the border of Montana and canada and you go into the park (PEACE) PARK With this agreement this park could very well be around in 100 to 1000 years

This is a good start, but it would be better if people gave thier reasoning for each one. My post on the Firehole gives my reason and method that draws me to that answer. I have yet to see anyone else opennly post where and why they believe the poem points to thier spot with confidence.

well that’s true Dave cuz the only new place that I’ve come up with is halfmoon trail in Mt. there is also one in Colorado, but that isn’t the poem it’s the pic in the book, but it is beautiful there on pictorio or pictorama it’s awesome 🙂

Telling someone to start on the world wide web is not a clue. Telling someone to begin a search on the www has next to zero information content and contradicts Forrest’s alleged motivation for doing this which he says was to get people out of the game rooms and out from behind their computers. Don’t forget, not all knowledge is on the world wide web.

true John Brown, it could be that he wants us to go to the actual library and look in those huge ole map books that are by the librarians desk lol 🙂 maybe F7 or A15 or B5 etc. are just map coordinates we won’t find in just our regular atlas 🙂

I have always taken “not far” to be the left side of a river as the “far side” of the river is always the right side. Hope that helps somebody, hasn’t helped me yet . Just another thought to add to your collection.

I agree with what you’re saying. I think the only assumption that we can make as far as the “life span” of the clues is what we feel is a reasonable expectation as you’ve outlined. IMO, an off-hand comment by FF about 10,000 years just shouldn’t be taken so literally, but many people are basing their clues on things that they think can last that long.

That’s a good point azuredeb and I’m glad you asked. This 10,000 year deal has been talked to death, so let me attempt to add my 2 cents.

I don’t know why everyone thinks that every clue, every location or even the poem has to survive for 10,000 years. this is (IMHO) a huge and potentially crippling assumption made on many peoples’ part.

The basis of this comes from Forrest innocently stating (sic) that he doesn’t care if it’s found tomorrow or in 10,000 years. What part of that statement tells us that anything other than the treasure itself will last that long?

Where has he ever said that the HOB, blaze, etc. will last that long? The answer is never.

Logic tells us that, unless subjected to molten lava, the chest and contents will survive at least that long since they are comprised of gold, bronze, rubies, etc. that are already millions if not billions of years old.

Forrest HAS NEVER SAID that someone could use his poem to find the chest 10,000 years from now. He only said he doesn’t care if it takes that long to be found. And, yes, I’m ready for the next argument…..

Question:
“Well if WWWH, HOB, the blaze etc. aren’t around in 10,000 years, what makes Forrest think someone would be able to find it?”

Simple answer:
How many archaeological finds are made every day WITHOUT an encrypted poem? Many are found due to historical documents but many more are found just by chance digging. How many has FF found himself just by poking around? Think about fossils or King Richard III whose remains were recently discovered beneath a parking lot.

I think the “10,000 year” statement is like many other statements that far to many assumptions have been made about over time and blogged about that people start thinking of them as fact.

My completely biased and uneducated advice is to always go back to the source statement or fact and forget the babble.

Lastly, Forrest has NEVER SAID that he “was sure it would still be there 10,000 years from now”. That’s another assumption that too many have made. If not found by someone, it’s only logical that it would still exist 10,000 years from now since it’s not made of papier mache or graham crackers.

1) It was never said that any object or location mentioned by any clue has to last 10000 years
2) The expectation that the chest would remain unfound for 10000 years was never stated

Let me know if I missed something.

For 1), How about 100 years?

Whether Mr. Fenn said it or not, do you think it’s reasonable to assume that the objects or locations, or history of the objects or locations mentioned by words or clues in the poem, will “remain” (and be solvable) for 100 years?

Seems reasonable to me.

1000 years? Harder to say. Modern civilized western settling of the North American continent hasn’t even lasted 1000 years (barely half of that) so it seems likely a lot of “Homes of Brown” might have come and gone by then.

But it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me, that if someone 1000 years out had maps and texts contemporary to Mr. Fenn’s lifetime, that they might be able to solve the clues. I imagine it would be much harder for them, though.

10000 years in the future? I can’t really even imagine what that means, geologically, or culturally. Longer than all of written human history (of the non-cave-painting type anyway).

Home of Brown has been bothering me all along. I could never come to terms with anything that could be a home to last for thousands of years. I considered that Forrest hadnt thought this one out, but he had. I had my ah hah moment and can now move on to other ideas to narrow down my search area. I cant tell you what it is because its another of those things that you would consider crazy. Par for the course so far! lol Keep thinking, it will come to you too!

this may just be weirdness to you, HOB. ok… is there a knob on front of chest?? can’t remember.. but Fenn, has HOB NOBBED with the best of them in his art gallery days, with the rich and famous, enuf to make Robin Leach proud anyway! LOL But… I was crazily thinkin if HOB was the HOB below the knob on the chest maybe it is the keyhole? the hob for the key that goes in it and like others have said we are looking for a key anyway also? even tho FF said the chest is not locked and the actual key to it is in the chest. Silly, but that’s where my mind wandered today lol 🙂

JJ came up with CES Woods A truly fasinating man = he could have been the former owner as in his house called CATS in CA there is a collection of brass and bronze boxes in the living room. But I don’t belive it is a clue.

I don’t think it matters so much where you start as long as you end up in the Rockies north of Santa Fe. There’s never been anything written or said by FF that I’m aware of that says you have to “begin it” in the Rockies, only that the treasure is there. You could “begin it” at the waterfall in Vietnam (joking) as long as the rest of the clues bring you to the Rockies. Just an opinion and since knowing where to begin is critical, why limit our thoughts to the Rockies as a starting point if our thoughts on the clues lead us elsewhere? Maybe HOB isn’t in the Rockies either or it’s south of SF? So many possibilities. Too many perhaps.

Peacemaker I agree with you…why limit self to the Rockies? One must expand the mind and be open to thinking outside of the Rockies for the Starting Point.

Oh sure the Treasure Chest ‘may’ be hidden/buried in the Rockies but the Starting Point…the Starting Point…where is the Starting Point? It’s not “where warm waters halt”…it’s not “in the canyon down”….should we start at the “home of Brown” aka “HOUSE BRONZE”…Lubbock, Texas…or what about starting at Lake Mead where in 1948 a Boeing B-29 crashed into the lake and sits in that abyss to this very day.

How can searchers run off to the Rockies when they don’t have a 110% Starting Point? Makes no sense! The Starting Point must be known with confidence just as the Blaze must be known with confidence….Can’t get to the end if you don’t know the beginning with absolute confidence. Forrest Fenn stated, something along this line, that whoever finds the Chest will go with confidence…right to it!

I guess that’s why it’s called the Thrill of the Chase…ever so fitting.

“begin it where warm waters halt”? That’s no Starting Point not unless your “(W)here (W)arm (W)aters Halt is www. the World Wide Web as you will begin to read the Poem or order the Book…then you are actually beginning it.

Here’s something to think about. Mr. Fenn once said “If it (cancer) comes back, I’m going to grab a pocketful of sleeping pills, take a treasure chest filled with treasure and a copy of my bio; and I’m going to walk out into the desert…” So, at one time he was considering “the desert” as the location for his treasure and his final resting place. A desert can be thought of as a place “where warm waters halt”. It also can be described as a “dry region”. A dry region in Spanish is called “arida zona”, which some believe is the etymology of the name “Arizona”. Begin in Arizona?

I know you think it could be in Arizona. If you believe that way – you should follow your heart. It’s hard to change a position once you have a spot. So I think you should go on a hunt. To really appreciate the desert – one should be low on the ground . Just remember you have to be 5,000 or over in elevation. I wish you the very best.

Yes, I think you are right. I marked as spam the ones I saw. I will wait until I get back home to turn on moderation for the first comment by someone. This may cause everyone to be moderated the next time they comment though.

It’s a good thing but a bad thing at the same time. It means the blog is growing, increasing in traffic, but a spammers will attempt to capitalized on the traffic. Catch 22…gotta love it! It’s a good sign…proof of growth.

I watch a tv show about yellowstone several nites ago, and did NOT catch 100% of what I am fixing to relate, but it went something like this: Warm moist air from the Pacific Ocean is blown by the westerly winds and blow it down the Snake River canyon and deposit it in the Geyser Basins north of Old Faithful……

Thanks, Chaser. Just throwing out some stuff for Josh Eng to kick around. I have one more search in me this year, probably in August that is completely unrelated to this scenario, but like most others, I’ll probably come home with nothing more that some great stories and hopefully some decent pics. Have a great day.

HI there! I’m looking at it metaphorically, not literally to mean that this is the method that he used when he actually hid the chest, I believe the poem is FF spinning a tale of how a person could get to the chest. I also don’t think he expects any of us to FLY A PLANE down into a canyon to retrieve it either. He’s telling us to begin it WWWH and take it in the canyon down. If he’s secretly referring to the WWWH as being on a river (dam, hot springs whatever) and PUT IN as being a raft or canoe being put into the water and going down stream, I don’t he is expecting us to physically brave Class 5 rapids in real life, but to follow those directions in our minds as we look at locations and decipher the clues on our way to the chest. After all, you can know where a river goes without having to be canoeing down it.

I guess I just have a different mindset on it. I think the poem is painting a picture and telling a story as much as it is drawing a map, if not more.

Hey Steve, I think your approach is as good as any other, maybe better in that Forrest loves the art world. I also dont think Forrest wants people to risk lives to seek his treasure. Good luck to you on your quest!

there is a hidden clue i found that has to do with what he doing in this stanza, he is laying down a canvass, painting a picture of the entire area, while at the same time bringing your attention to something in the picture, a canyon that is in it, and you follow it down as if you are looking at a picture and now your attention is focused on the southernmost point of the canyon

I believe Begin and Halt are clues for us to look inbetween those words for the first clue. Leaving us with
It where warms waters
as the first clue. Anagram those letters and you get…
Whereat Writer Swam

So then, look above this line to the last line of stanza one and you will see the word HINT. The next words are…
OF RIcHEs nEw and oLd
That phrase includes the letters to make the word FIREHOLE.

This is the first clue, and hint. FF was nice enough to make this clue and hint a little eadier to see by using the words BEGIN, HALT and HINT. He is taking it easy on us here with the first one by using the instruction words (begin and halt) and marking our clue with word HINT as our “blaze”.

A trail blaze is a marker that helps you find and stay on the correct trail you are following. We are trying to follow clues in a poem, so it makes sense to me that our blaze would be a hint just above the clue line.

Did you notice that Begin and Halt also contain the letters to form the word HINT?

He said the person who finds the treadure will have studied the poem. He also says that you can move with confidence. I believe this is because a combination of word play and anagrams will give that person a clear view of the clues and hints.

Yes Mike, anagrams can be found anywhere, but if they are marked for us in a specific way and follow a set pattern then they are not random.
I dont think they can be dismissed completely.

For example, the word halt does not rhyme with the word walk. One of those words was chosen for another reason. Halt contains the letters H and T which go with the I and N in the word begin. To show us this hint is between them.
Of course I could be wrong, bit FF likes word play, puzzles, and anagrams. Butterfly is a Flutterby etc.
I think this is an avenue of some importance.

Oh, and the answer and clue are linked here. Whereat writer swam by itself could be any location including a pool at the local YMCA, but when linked with Warm Waters, as well as his story of River Bathing, his love of the Firehole River. It all makes sense to me. Now this is just clue #1 and not the treasures resting spot, but it isnt some random location with no tie ins to the rest of the chase.

1) Whereat. At where. Where at. However you want to write it. He had 15 years to do this, not 15 minutes. He can do better than that.

2) Writer Swam implies the location of WWWH (or some other clue) was explicitly stated in the book. I’m running on the theory that “the places mentioned in the book are where the people who have no chance of finding the treasure are looking.”

I think anagrams definitely have potential. The non-rhyming of words such as HALT and WALK is a pretty clear indication of some kind of encoding, of a decision chosen “because he had to, to make the code work,” but i can find no precedent for the use of anagrams in the manner you describe, with “hint words” at the beginning and end. I am not ready to concede that Mr. Fenn made up a whole new, unprecedented puzzle type.

Traditionally, anagrams use all the letters in a block of text. That’s what makes them an anagram. There are some rules about replacing W with V V or U U or and some other minor “allowed license” with historical precedent, but none that match what you’re describing.

also, i thought the “whereas .. something something” anagram I read on some other post apparently, was bunk. I think that’s clearly seeing something that wasn’t deliberately put there. If there are any anagrams in the poem, I’m 99.9% certain the word “whereas” will not appear as word.

I understand that people may not agree with my theory, but it is in my opinion woth consideration.
My WWWH Anagram is not faulty just because you dont like the word whereat.It uses all the letters betweenbegin and halt, and it refocuses my attention to where FF swam rather than where water halts thru a cleaver use of the word halt. If that word is an instruction to us, rather than an action of the warm waters. I think that would be a simple way for FF to be looking in the wrong direction. We wrongly infer the meaningbecause we dont have the benifit of spoken inflection. The poems wacky punctuation is what made me look at this. Plus it is very clever to let us make an error in that way.

I challenge everyone to put forth thier own original ideas and thoughs on the clues. Steph Davis, Chris Yates and a few other brave souls have offered original ideas and even if I dont agree or understand all of thier thinking I applaude them for posting unique concepts.

Warm waters halt up in the clouds where they cool off, condense, and fall as rain drops.

As a pilot, FF was very familiar with clouds. FF’s friend Eric Sloane (mentioned in TTOTC) enjoyed flying and fell in love with clouds. He used clouds as subjects for his art work and also studied and wrote about clouds.

Coincidentally, the philosophical ideas expressed in FF’s chapter “My War For Me” seem similar to those in the recent movie with the interesting name, “Cloud Atlas.”

While I’m at it, why not quote singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, who said this about clouds in her song “Both Side Now” on her album “Clouds” (check out the third line):

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all.
* * *

Begin with the first clue – Forrest has reminded us over and over to figure out first where “warm waters halt”. Without getting this first clue, he says, we cannot expect to understand the rest of the clues.

If you select clouds – and they are everywhere – you have just made WWWH a non-clue.

It’s possible. But presumably the chest is not hidden in a cloud. So the next step, if you want to consider ‘clouds’ as a solution to WWWH, is to ask yourself, “where does that lead me, within the Rocky Mountains North of Santa Fe?”

lol this reminds me of when I was a kid. We’d lay on our backs and tr to figure out all the shapes we’d see in the clouds and I’d pretend that all the clouds were islands and the sky was the water and I’d water ski around them 🙂 lol

Josh. People have mentioned clouds as possibly being WWWH. I never really thought about it, but forget all the other stuff about the chest being in the clouds, jokes, etc. and think about what you also said about FF flying and read the following from Dal’s blog:

Consider the poem and imagine that he flew in (from WWWH… the clouds), took it (the plane) in the canyon down, then “put in” (landed) below the HOB. There are 100’s if not 1000’s of small airports/landing strips in the Rockies, but this may be a reasonable scenario, you just have to begin to narrow it down.

First, did as FF says he did in the above mentioned link. There must be a guide somewhere that lists airfields with rental cars. That would narrow it down a bit. Since we know that FF carried the chest from his car to the ‘hidey spot’ (he could refer to a rental car as ‘my car’), it’s not a bad way to start.

If you have already made a list of possible HOB’s, look for airstrips near them.

Then, see if any of the other clues might fit the areas near the airport (HOB’s especially). See where some of the roads lead from the airport, etc.

I admit it’s not an approach I’ve taken, but maybe that’s good since I’ve failed on two searches using my methods. I never even considered it, but now….maybe

Of course it could be wrong, but your cloud idea isn’t nearly as far-fetched as some of the others I’ve read here and elsewhere.

Peacemaker, thank you for your post. You described a scenario that I never considered, and it does actually make perfectly good sense. Any idea is viable, but it has to develop, and continue to make sense as you follow it through the poem. I am not sure if I was just joking or trying to help in my first reply, but I think you’ve successfully taken this idea to the next step.

Has anyone thought that Begin it WWWH could be start in Glacier National Park and take it in the canyon down (road) to YNP coming in the north gate by Gardiner and then travel all the way through the park and out in Wyoming and then actually ending up with the entire poem somewhere closer to home, recreating the entire Rd. trip he took through all the Rocky Mountains and then actually waiting until closer to home to place the chest? He did drive for an entire week, that’s alot of ground, but not too far to drive when you are having a great time 🙂

intertheory.org/slavkin.htm << this is pretty interesting Dave, about art critiquing. Remeber how the guys from Amarillo were art guys doing that did he say they ddin't know what the heck they were talking about?

They can kiss my grits….how can it be stolen when it’s on every search engine within the internet…dumb. It’s not like I made 1000’s of copies and sold them at the flea market for a nickel and only 1 person bought one…give me a freaking break…such idiots I sway.

Anyways here is the same exact photo, different link, and there is nothing they can do and if they hate it they can delete the photo from the entire internet and I would win…game over.

I believe word play is an important factor in solving the clues. They can be easy to miss, especially when dealing with written words without inflection.
look at that first line. Most people are focused on finding a location where warm waters halt. We even use the abbreviation WWWH to refer to the line.
Imagine for a moment that you were listening to someone saying that line instead and they said it this way…

BEGIN
It where warm waters
HALT.
If the right inflection is used, begin and halt could sound like directions or instructions. Like a teacher telling her class when to begin and end a test. Or like children playing a game when they yell out start and stop.

With inflection, that line could have a very different meaning. If begin and halt are simple instructions, to use the puzzle solvers, then halt no longer refers to the waters action or temperature. And the word IT which is often left off of WWWH is actually important to the clue.
It where warm waters
That is the actual clue between the instructiom words of begin and halt.

That anagrams to a simple 3 word solution. You can do it…

Anyway, word play and a little misinterpetation of the words intent, has us all looking for dams or confluences of rivers etc, because we simply infered Halt relates to the warm waters, when in my opinion, it is actually instructing us where the first clue ends.

“Not far, but too far to walk. Then put in below the home of Brown really has me leaning towards a boat ride. I just can’t see f taking a boat ride. Is it possible he’s trying to get us to take the more scenic route as opposed to the most direct?”

Didn’t realize the blog changed or i would have put it here…..thanks VGB. I fish alot and we always call our entry to the river put-ins. I’m a firm believer f drove. I jus thought the choice of words were interesting.

JJ in my opinion I believe that the Treasure Chest is under water and if not it’s in very close proximity to a river/stream/pond/lake and when I say very close I say within 7ft to 10ft of a water source. Water is definitely at play in my opinion JJ.

I have said that I believe this to be a “hike”. Here is a little more…if we begin it at wwwh we can walk to the hob as part of our hike…or…we can drive to the hob and park then begin our hike. It is not far from wwwh to hob.

Here’s another home of brown….adridge means brownhills…..FF says to the caliph I am dirt, but to the dirt I am the caliph, or something like that. Caliph means successor or ruler…..the ruler of the earth is satan…..the devil’s slide which has aldridge rd running along it? A gardner is also the ruler of the earth….gardiner island?

The bronze bell’s story i posted last night had a famous Brown attached to it. I’ve always considered it to be a proper noun and someones name. I’ve tried to associate Brown with other things and came up empty. The more i read about Idaho the stronger my confidence builds. If anyone gets time read up on the Wasden Site, interesting find.

Where do warm waters halt??? In the freezer (icebox canyon)….by a beaver home or a natural one?…..a natural hot spring that stops in a pool?….the headwaters where warm meets cold?…..the boundary of YNP?……at 32 degrees? or since FF refers to “poo” so much i.e. dirty pants, is he talking about the Big Hole?? That last one is questionable but I have to look at it from all angles….no pun intended.

IMO…what these four lines are saying is…
WWWH is the starting point…
Take “it” meaning the hunt/search…in the canyon down…
Not far but too far to walk…it will be a “hike”
Put in below the home of Brown…to me this means there is more than one canyon and the canyon you should take is the one below the HOB.

The place I believe the wwwh is… has three canyons. F once said that folks have solved the first two clues but went by the other seven. I believe they went down the wrong canyon.

My distance is twenty miles. He talked of riding his bike from West Yellowstone to the Firehole river to enjoy his favorite bathing spot rather than walking one mile to the railroad station to take a shower.

Begin your search on the WORLD WIDE WEB!
Did majority of us not first read the Poem on the world wide web? Do majority of us not follow the Thrill of the Chase on the world wide web? Are we, humans, not made up of over 60% of water and when out working, running (sweating) or what have you and then when we rest, such as sitting down using the computer or some electronic device or sleep, our temperature cools down…halts. Then this clue is solved by all of us and by many who are on the world wide web that do not even know they already solved this line.

Now yes that is only a cyberspace clue solved and not reality but it’s still is “where warm waters halt” for we are all using the World Wide Web to solve this thing…so then it’s where we begin it.

Well as far as I know back in 2010 Forrest Fenn never gave out the clue that he hid or buried the Chest in the Rocky Mountains. He gave this clue later I believe a year later. So the CONTINENTAL DIVIDE is another clue solved for “where warm waters halt”. If Forrest Fenn never gave out the Rocky Mountain Clue then people would have had to figure it out that the Chest is someplace in the Rocky Mountains by way of the Continental Divide.

So far that is 2 “where warm waters halt” in my opinion.

So now the 3rd where warm waters halt is the actual real place on the ground that will lead you to the Chest in my opinion.